Big 12 bumps back baseball tournament start to Thursday after Oklahoma tornado

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Big 12 is delaying the start of its baseball tournament in Oklahoma City after this week's deadly tornado.

The league announced Tuesday that the tournament will change from a double-elimination format to pool play and start on Thursday instead of Wednesday.

Conference spokesman Bob Burda says Oklahoma City leaders asked the Big 12 not to cancel the tournament and allow it to show "the strong Oklahoma spirit and to the resiliency of the Oklahoma people."

One pool will feature regular-season champion Kansas State, No. 4 seed Oklahoma, No. 5 seed Baylor and No. 8 seed Texas Tech. The other will feature second-seeded Oklahoma State, No. 3 seed West Virginia, No. 6 seed Kansas and No. 7 seed TCU. The championship is Sunday.